Schizophrenia revisited.

Mental-health professionals who have daily contact with those diagnosed with schizophrenia wonder if the label in itself is merely a social construct. It is a construct in that as a society, we define what is considered to be 'normal' and 'abnormal' behaviour. There are, for example, some cultures in our world, where 'schizophrenia' is celebrated; a gift given to a person with the ability to mediate between reality and the spirit-world: the witch-doctor. People today have good reason to believe it to be a social-construct, especially as there are no existing clinical tests. As previously noted, the diagnosis for any psychiatric 'illness' is based solely upon the expert opinion of the psychiatrist where the label is given to a person who displays behaviour indicative of a proposed criteria.

In 2006, a group of mental-health professionals and patients from the UK, under the banner of Campaign for Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label argued for the rejection of the diagnosis of schizophrenia based on its heterogeneity and associated stigma. Of course, other UK psychiatrists opposed the move arguing that the term is a useful concept - even if for the moment, it remains provisional.

The question is, what would happen, should the label be removed? For the moment, the paradigm of 'schizophrenia' (proposed by Eugene Bleuler in 1908) is useful informing us mental-health professionals with assessment and treatment plans. Should a bio-psycho-social model be accepted, what are we then to do with this medical paradigm, which has been with us for a hundred years? In the same way that demon-possession (because of its lack of scientific evidence) was merely a social construct to explain the phenomenon in its day, we're beginning to see the same with 'schizophrenia' (also with its lack of scientific evidence) as a medical phenomenon fitting the same bill.